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Rwanda

Rwanda: Floods and Landslides - Operational Update (MDRRW022)

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Description of the Event

What happened, where and when?

From May 1 to 3, Rwanda experienced continuous torrential rains that caused major damage in several regions of the country, particularly in the Western, Northern and Southern provinces.

The toll was: 131 dead, 77 injured and 5 missing.

According to the first assessment made on May 6 by the Rwandan Red Cross with the support of local partners,
Rwanda's western, northern and southern provinces were the areas hardest hit by the floods that struck the country as early as May 1, with 14 districts experiencing shocking floods and landslides affecting 51,905 people in 10,381 households.

10,381 households were affected, 131 people died, 5,472 houses were destroyed, and 4,909 houses threatened.
Reported damage includes major losses of homes, basic household items, unusable water sources, latrines and roads. The destruction of thousands of hectares of crops and livestock was immense. Affected people were gathered in sites within sites. Needs were enormous and vulnerabilities high. The rains continued until June.

To date, all the sites for the displaced have been closed by the government and 3,223 disaster victims have benefited from three months' rent from the government.

Scope and Scale

The impact of floods from 1st May to 6th with continuation of heavy rainfall as forecasted by the National meteorological agency is until end of May. The impact of floods has never been that huge for the past 3 to 5 years in Rwanda with significant loss of lives reported across the districts. Maximum rainfall usually recorded in past floods events varied between 60.88mm, 35.6mm and 44.9mm while the National meteorological agency reported rainfall of 110 to 130 mm leading to the dire situation experienced since the 3rd of May

The damages, losses and deaths recorded across the 14 districts hardly hit, is huge. Initial information reported by branches on 3rd stated 7,684 households were evacuated (with over 38,000 people) as a result of the destroyed or heavily damaged houses. Several areas in the affected provinces were still inaccessible with disrupted means of communication

With improvement of access, RRCS based on assessment conducted confirms the statement above within the 14 districts affected and Western and Northern province being the most affected. The main figures of current impa ct gathered from RRCS assessment was completed on 6th May 2023 as below

  • In Western Province, 6 districts with significant impact are Rubavu, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Karongi, Rutsiro, Nyamasheke. The assessment also revealed that 4,933 were destroyed houses, 3,292 were at risk while the total affecte d HHs were 8,225, (People in affected HHs 41,125- Male: 19,946, Female 21,179, Children under 5: 5,30

  • In Northern Province, 4 districts mostly affected were: Gakenke (with the highest number of houses at risk), Burera,
    Musanze, Gicumbi. Important figures include destroyed houses 507, houses being at risk 1,412, total affected HH s 1,919, People in affected HHs 9,595, Male: 4,654, Female 4,941, Children under 5: 1,2

  • Southern Province recorded the less impact with only 32 houses destroyed, 205 houses being at risk, and total affected HHs 237, People in affected HHs (1,185 Male: 574, Female 611, children under 5: 153). Four districts being o f concern based on the above figures are Nyamagabe, Muhanga, Ruhango, Nyan

The floods brought huge landslides and houses collapsed in several areas, leading to the loss of lives of more than hundred people

The loss and impact were severely reported in West Region first within 5 districts all hardly hit by the floods an d landslides, making around 41,125 people affected and more than eight thousand people in need of shelter. T he Northern region reported up to 9,595 people affected with the highest impact recorded in Burera and Gakenke. B oth regions represent 90% of the needs assessed. The above figures do not include the host communities ar Needs are high and the impact is the worst faced by the country in the past 4 years. In addition, the people's livelihoods are highly impacted with livestock deaths, crops destroyed, food stocks and households destroyed and merged with mud. The market supply system is particularly not functional due to damaged roads to the marketplaces and shops. Additionally, in different parts of the country, public infrastructure was affected: Damaged roads (8 National and 9 districts roads section, 26 bridges); 6 Water Treatment Plants flooded and not functional; 8 health facilities (2 health Posts, 5 health centers and 1 hospital (Shyira) were affect.